By Justin Walker
Communications Specialist
The average American is three to four generations removed from agriculture. Area farmers and ranchers worked to bridge that gap during a recent home and garden show.
Farmers and ranchers from Wichita, Baylor, Wilbarger, Montague, Young and Archer County Farm Bureaus (CFB) attended the annual Arts Alive! Home & Garden Show in Wichita Falls Saturday, Feb. 25. This event was an opportunity to meet with those not involved in agriculture and talk about how food is grown.
““From people selling lawn mowers to others selling siding for your house, this event has many things going on,” Layne Chapman, a Wilbarger CFB member, said. “Farm Bureau was there trying to engage people about agriculture and our food.”
The CFB representatives used the Farm Bureau mobile learning barn to spark discussion with attendees, but they also had activities for people to participate in.
One activity was shelling corn, which Barry Mahler, a Wichita CFB member, said was helpful in teaching people about their food.
“A small portion of our population actually has a connection to agriculture,” Mahler said. “It’s important for them to be aware of their food, how it’s grown and where it comes from.”
Chapman said engaging people attending the show was interesting due to the diversity of vendors present.
“We were in between someone selling raw honey and a John Deere dealership,” Chapman said. “It was a full gambit of retail stores.”
But that diversity helped draw in various crowds for the farmers and ranchers to interact with.
“The way the mobile learning barn is set up is great to deal with that wide range of people,” Chapman said. “On one side, it’s talking about actual people who are producing food and fiber to feed us. On the other, it speaks of erosion and the way a plant grows. That makes it possible to speak to a lot of different people about different aspects of agriculture.”
The event allowed farmers and ranchers like Chapman and Mahler to connect with consumers and put a face to the people who grow food and fiber.
“These functions are great because we’re connecting with an urban audience and getting to talk about food and fiber with them,” Chapman said.
Meeting with a younger audience was also valuable, according to Mahler.
“I think this event went very well,” Mahler said. “We had wonderful crowds and lots of young people. It’s vital that young people know where their food comes from.”